Pico "Oration of the Dignity of Man"

MEHAP

Pico’s “Oration on the Dignity of Man”

Thesis: Although all other creatures in our universe are bound to a determined place in the universe, Pico emphatically suggests that human beings are different in the sense that God has bestowed upon us the liberty and power to shape our lives, a belief that is key in the emergence of the modern outlook.

· When men’s explanations for the excellence of human nature were unable to satisfy Pico, he sought to compose his own theory

o Men’s explanations: that man is the intermediary between creatures, the intimate of the gods, the kings of lower beings, the interval between fixed eternity and passing time

o Pico’s belief that there has to be something more about human life for according to Abdala the Saracen, he believed that “There is nothing to be seen more wonderful than man”: man is the most fortunate of creatures and admirable miracle

o Pico’s conclusion

§ In God’s, the Architect’s, cosmic and marvelous home, there were three levels:

· The Intelligences lived in the region above the heavens

· The eternal souls were part of the heavenly spheres

· The Lower World was filled with “excrementary and filthy”

§ However, as such a Craftsman, he wished to create someone “to ponder such great work, to love its beauty, and to wonder at its vastness” à thought about the creation of man

§ Since God ordained all creatures with different characteristics and had not yet deemed man with any such qualities, God made him as” indeterminate creature” in the middle of the world with “neither a fixed abode nor a form that is thine alone nor any function peculiar to thyself have we given thee. . . thou mayest have and possess what abode, what form, and what functions thou thyself shalt desire.”

§ Unlike all nature and other beings, which are limited to the laws of God and heaven, man is constrained by no such limits and is able to choose for himself according to free will

§ By the generosity of God, man is granted whatever he chooses and to be whatever he desires unlike beasts (confined to an extent) and spiritual angels (are for ever and ever)

§ MAN, made by God as:

· At the center of the world

· Neither of heaven nor of earth

· Neither mortal nor immortal

· With power to either to become a lower life form or to progress towards a divine higher form

o Pico’s examples of shaping one’s own life

§ If vegetative, then will be like a plant

§ If sensitive, then will become rough

§ If rational, then will evolve into a heavenly being

§ If intellectual, then will be an angel and son of God

§ If happy and pleased with his inward beauty and spiritual passion, his soul shall rise above all